Picturing the World

Underwood & Underwood.
Searching for Family Relics
in Ruins of the Dear Old Home,
San Franscisco.
Washington, D.C.: 1901
Stereograph Copyright deposit, 1901
Prints & Photographs Division
(144.4a,b, 144.5, 144.7)

Originating in the mid-nineteenth century, stereographs were at the height of their popularity at the turn of the twentieth century. Large publishing companies sent photographers around the world to document tourist attractions, famous personalities, and news events, such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Before the invention of radio and television, middle- and upper-class families collected and viewed stereographs as entertainment using a stereoscope that brought the images together for a 3-D effect. The Library's collection of more than 30,000 stereographs produced by firms including Whiting View Company, Underwood and Underwood, and the Keystone View Company spans the 1850s through World War I.

Ruins from Nob Hill (no. 56),
Mechanic's Fountain Corner
of Bush & Market (63),
Giving Clothing, Fort Point (59),
Pillsbury Picture Company
Silver gelatin stereograph prints
Prints & Photographs Division (144.9a,b,c)